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Lliteras inks with N.C. State
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| Photo by MARK REIN/For the Star-Herald Chadron High School’s Kelsie Lliteras looks to shoot during a basketball game last season in Mitchell. Lliteras signed a letter of intent to continue her basketball career at North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C. |
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By MARK REIN
For the Star-Herald
CHADRON — Chadron High School senior Kelsie Lliteras has always had a dream of playing Division I basketball.
That dream became a reality on Wednesday when Lliteras signed a letter of intent to play for North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., next year.
“This is a really big step coming from a small school,” Lliteras said. “Just going big is what I have always wanted to do and it is coming true. It feels really good.”
Lliteras, a 6-foot-4 center for the Cardinals, visited the Wolfpack campus in October and also was receiving plenty of attention from other big-name schools around the country.
“I was looking at the Iowa Hawkeyes, and during my senior year I got a call from N.C. State,” Lliteras said. “They said ‘Kelsie we are recruiting you and we would really love for you to come to our school.’ I was like ‘Wow,’ because I didn’t think I was good enough for a top D1 program like that.”
Lliteras will join a Wolfpack team that will graduate just one senior after this season. Lliteras said she isn’t expecting to see a lot of action her freshman year, but she will use the time to improve her basketball talents.
“They said they would red-shirt me, but that would depend on how I play during the summer and how I react to the game,” Lliteras said.
One of the big things that helped Lliteras decide on N.C. State was the opportunity to play for Kay Yow, one of the winningest women’s basketball coaches in NCAA history. In Yow’s 37 years as a head coach at the college level, she has led her teams to a combined record of 729-337 and is one of only six Division I women’s coaches to achieve 700 career victories.
“It is an unbelievable feeling and it’s awesome that I am playing for one of the most popular coaches,” Lliteras said.
Lliteras said her campus visit helped make her decision much easier, even though it’s a long way from her home.
“I didn’t think I was going to go there at first, but when I went down for the visit they offered the scholarship,” Lliteras said. “The coaching staff is wonderful and so is the group of girls. It is a family-oriented place. It is so much fun. I made my decision down there and verbally committed.”
Since her freshman year at Chadron, Lliteras has continued to get better. She hopes to continue improving this season as a senior for the Cardinals.
“During my freshman year I would have to say I was slower and probably weaker then I am now,” she said. “My skills have jumped to a higher level.”
Lliteras’ game improved after she played in the Lincoln-based AAU team that featured some of the top players in the state of Nebraska.
Her Shooting Stars team lost just six games this past summer. During the summers, Lliteras said her dad would drive her to and from Lincoln each Sunday.
“It really didn’t matter to me where I went to school. I played on the Cornhusker Shooting Stars for three years and I stayed in Lincoln for two months by myself, so it [going away to school] really doesn’t bother me,” she said. “That AAU team really helped big time, because if I wouldn’t have had that AAU team I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.”
Lliteras has had a sparkling prep career for Chadron. Last year as a junior she averaged 13 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals. This will mark Lliteras’ fourth year on the varsity squad and she is hoping the team can return to the state tournament.
“This year we are stepping up,” she said. “I think we can have a really good team.”
That dream became a reality on Wednesday when Lliteras signed a letter of intent to play for North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., next year.
“This is a really big step coming from a small school,” Lliteras said. “Just going big is what I have always wanted to do and it is coming true. It feels really good.”
Lliteras, a 6-foot-4 center for the Cardinals, visited the Wolfpack campus in October and also was receiving plenty of attention from other big-name schools around the country.
“I was looking at the Iowa Hawkeyes, and during my senior year I got a call from N.C. State,” Lliteras said. “They said ‘Kelsie we are recruiting you and we would really love for you to come to our school.’ I was like ‘Wow,’ because I didn’t think I was good enough for a top D1 program like that.”
Lliteras will join a Wolfpack team that will graduate just one senior after this season. Lliteras said she isn’t expecting to see a lot of action her freshman year, but she will use the time to improve her basketball talents.
“They said they would red-shirt me, but that would depend on how I play during the summer and how I react to the game,” Lliteras said.
One of the big things that helped Lliteras decide on N.C. State was the opportunity to play for Kay Yow, one of the winningest women’s basketball coaches in NCAA history. In Yow’s 37 years as a head coach at the college level, she has led her teams to a combined record of 729-337 and is one of only six Division I women’s coaches to achieve 700 career victories.
“It is an unbelievable feeling and it’s awesome that I am playing for one of the most popular coaches,” Lliteras said.
Lliteras said her campus visit helped make her decision much easier, even though it’s a long way from her home.
“I didn’t think I was going to go there at first, but when I went down for the visit they offered the scholarship,” Lliteras said. “The coaching staff is wonderful and so is the group of girls. It is a family-oriented place. It is so much fun. I made my decision down there and verbally committed.”
Since her freshman year at Chadron, Lliteras has continued to get better. She hopes to continue improving this season as a senior for the Cardinals.
“During my freshman year I would have to say I was slower and probably weaker then I am now,” she said. “My skills have jumped to a higher level.”
Lliteras’ game improved after she played in the Lincoln-based AAU team that featured some of the top players in the state of Nebraska.
Her Shooting Stars team lost just six games this past summer. During the summers, Lliteras said her dad would drive her to and from Lincoln each Sunday.
“It really didn’t matter to me where I went to school. I played on the Cornhusker Shooting Stars for three years and I stayed in Lincoln for two months by myself, so it [going away to school] really doesn’t bother me,” she said. “That AAU team really helped big time, because if I wouldn’t have had that AAU team I probably wouldn’t be where I am now.”
Lliteras has had a sparkling prep career for Chadron. Last year as a junior she averaged 13 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinals. This will mark Lliteras’ fourth year on the varsity squad and she is hoping the team can return to the state tournament.
“This year we are stepping up,” she said. “I think we can have a really good team.”
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